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GOP Divided on Security, Foreign Policy; Weather Impacting Holiday Travel; 3.4 Million People Expected to Fly; Troops Returning Home; Jerry Sandusky Faces New Allegations; Congress Funds "Hubble 2.0; Texas Judge in Beating Video Suspended; University to Pay Students' Medical Bills; Gingrich: "Prepared to Take the Heat"; Obama Pardon's Thanksgiving Turkey; DWTS Season 13 Champ Crowned; Bell Ringers Go High Tech
Aired November 23, 2011 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start off our next hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM now.
Well, it was Republican presidential debate number 11. Yes, there have been a lot, but still we got something new every time. And we're not getting another one for another two weeks.
So we need to recap what you saw or may have missed, actually, last night, another showdown. This was one over national security and foreign policy.
These candidates, yes, are of the same party, the Republican Party, but they are clearly not on the same page. Let's get our coverage started with our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With eight Republicans onstage, President Barack Obama got a few nicks.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you like what Barack Obama has done to our economy, you'll love what he's done to our national security.
DOUGHERTY: But these candidates had the knives out for each other.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Are you suggesting, Governor, we just take all our troops out next week? What's your --
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did you hear what I just said? Draw down from 100,000. We don't need 100,000 troops.
DOUGHERTY: There was heated debate whether the post-9/11 Patriot Act should be extended.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives. This is not going to end in the short run. We need to be prepared to protect ourselves.
RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can still provide security without sacrificing our Bill of Rights.
HUNTSMAN: I think we have to be very careful in protecting our individual liberties. We forget sometimes that we have a name brand in this world.
DOUGHERTY: Should specific ethnic or religious groups in America be profiled for security screenings?
WOLF BLITZER, MODERATOR: Who would be profiled?
SANTORUM: Muslims would be someone you'd look like, absolutely. Those are the folks -- the radical Muslims that committing these crimes.
PAUL: That's digging a hole for ourselves. What if they look like Timothy McVeigh? He was a pretty tough criminal.
DOUGHERTY: In the midst of a heavy debate, a light moment.
BLITZER: Is it OK for Muslim-Americans to get more intensive pat- downs or security when they go through airports than Christian or Jewish Americans?
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, Blitz. That's oversimplifying it. I happen to believe that if you allow our intelligence agencies to do their job, they can come up with an approach -- I'm sorry, Blitz. I meant Wolf. OK? Blitz -- Wolf.
DOUGHERTY: And what about aid to Pakistan?
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also think that Pakistan is a nation that it's kind of like too nuclear to fail.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Until Pakistan clearly shows that they have America's best interests in mind, I would not send them one penny, period.
BACHMANN: With all due respect to the governor, I think that's highly naive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Jill Dougherty is with me now. Jill, after so many of these debates, it seemed easier to say, OK that person had a really good debate. That person really blew it, but last night it seems some won and some won more than others?
DOUGHERTY: Yes, I mean, nobody I think really lost and that was the main thing. Nobody wanted to make a huge gaffe, other than Wolf's name and we'll talk with Wolf and see how serious that was.
But essentially, the foreign policy things -- even let's say, Cain, who did make some gaffes before was a bit tentative. He was much more careful in saying what he would do.
And in fact, you could argue that kind of weakened his argument, because he kept saying it depends. It depends. But the other people, let's say Huntsman, came through as expected because after all, that is his brief and he knows it very well.
Romney measured up to what people expected. So I think the most interesting thing was you did see these differences in the way people look at some of the very important and I would say controversial issues that make up American foreign policy.
HOLMES: All right. We're going to be talking about this more a little later, but Jill Dougherty, always a pleasure. Our senior political analyst, David Gergen will be here in just a few minutes talking debate and how the candidates are divided on that topic of illegal immigration, security issues as well including airport screenings. We're just 4 minutes past the hour now.
We'll turn to what so many of you are going to be doing today and tomorrow, that's traveling. Forty two million we're told are expected to drive, fly, even maybe hop on a drain this Thanksgiving weekend. We are covering it for you.
Our George Howell is at one of the country's busiest airports, the busiest, Atlanta Hartsfield. Ted Rowlands is actually on a train right now, an Amtrak train headed to Chicago.
We'll check in with him later, but Jacqui Jeras is the woman of the hour because going to know if I am traveling, is weather going to cause me any problems, so --
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes -- obviously yes, right? Any little hiccup when you have so many people that are in the air especially at one time. We started this morning, T.J., at 5:00 a.m. with about 1,200 planes in the air. Guess how many are out there right now?
Look at them all. All those blue little icons airplanes, those are all planes in the air, 4,800 at this hour so that's a lot of volume. And when you have low clouds across the east coast like we're seeing, even though that rain is starting to pull out of here now, the clouds are going to remain along with a few sprinkles.
That's why we're going to have trouble. All right, Philadelphia looking at arrival delays right now, 45 minutes. So that's people from other places in the country trying to get into Philadelphia.
And Newark, we're looking at some departure delays about 30 minutes and that has to do with the windy conditions that we're dealing with there. Let's take a look at a live picture in Philadelphia to give you a better idea of how things are looking there.
That's from our affiliate. Temperature is not bad about 60 degrees in Philly. You can see the low overcast. I don't see a single one of those airplanes moving right now, do you? Hate it when that happens.
We're also keeping track of what's happening on the interstates. With all of that rain, we're getting a lot of accident reports and some roadways are actually flooding. So be aware of that. I wanted to mention that I-83, which is a Harrisburg Expressway northbound of the Baltimore area does have an accident. All lanes are blocked there. That's a live picture of Snoqualmie Pass as we've been tracking things across the Pacific Northwest, too. It's 20 to 40 inches of snow, T.J., has fallen in the last two days.
HOLMES: Wow. As you said, yes, in will be some problems for some folks. Jacqui Jeras, thank you. She's on it for us. But let's head out to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport right now.
George Howell is there for us. George has been, like you said, dipping in and out of between your live shots to see how things are going. So how has it changed inside as you keep checking it out?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, fair to say we are seeing a lot of people traveling, a lot of traffic outside and inside. The crowds certainly building, but one person who is driving a shuttle just a minute ago, just stopped, and yelled outside the truck and said, this is the slowest Thanksgiving he's seen in a while.
Fair to say that's playing into what we are seeing here. Lighter traffic today, but you go inside. You do find the crowds building. You find people dealing with the different stories, dealing with the baggage fees.
People who are dealing with delays from overnight weather, but you can also find stories of the military men and women, great stories, of people who are coming home.
That's what I'd like to focus on right now. We just talked to Melissa Meinzer who's coming from Iraq. Just take a listen to what she has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: What is it like to be back on American soil? Be back home?
STAFF SGT. MELISSA MEINZER, U.S. ARMY: It is the best feeling especially so close to the holidays. I think all of us are really, really excited to get to spend time with our family for the holiday. It's been so long since we've been gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Melissa coming back to see her 6-year-old son as are other soldiers who have been away fighting for some time -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, George Howell there for us. That's a nice moment. Good to see these reunions around the holidays. Thank you so much.
We want to turn now to the White House and our Dan Lothian is there, and, Dan, I'll just allow you to fill in your own joke essentially here.
Because, you know, you say to anybody in the country, I'll give everybody the option. President Obama today is dealing with two turkeys. Fill in your own joke.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know -- I don't want to get in trouble because anything I say at this point could get me in trouble, but you're right. He's dealing with two turkeys.
A lot of times people think of the pardoning, this annual Thanksgiving tradition, as the pardoning of one turkey, but essentially the one turkey and its sidekick or alternate.
This year they're calling it liberty and peace, they come from Minnesota, which, of course, also happens to be a key battleground state. We are told by the White House that these are 19-week-old 45- pound turkeys.
They got their names from submissions from 100 school children from Minnesota. So that's how they came up with the names and, of course, the president will be giving the presidential pardon to these turkeys.
They will end up living on a farm here in the Washington, D.C. area. You know -- a lot of people try to figure out how this all got started, and I think it's a little murky. I'm not sure I can nail it down for you.
Some people think it goes all the way back to President Truman, but officially, this goes back to President George H.W. Bush in the 1980s. He was the first official pardoning ceremony that took place here at the White House, and so far since that has started, 22 birds have been pardoned -- T.J.
HOLMES: Why is there always a sidekick?
LOTHIAN: You know, that's a good question. I don't have all the answers to this turkey tradition here and you gave that zinger.
HOLMES: Sorry.
LOTHIAN: I don't know. Always an alternate in case the official bird gets sick or something, they have to have something out there to pardon.
HOLMES: You know what? Dan --
LOTHIAN: It's always two.
HOLMES: Dan, it's all right, buddy. You can answer questions about sequestration and anything about the budget up there. If you don't know about a turkey, we'll forgive you. We know you know your stuff. All right, Dan, good to see you.
LOTHIAN: And that's no jive turkey.
HOLMES: There it is. It's very good to see you, as always. Thanks so much. We're at 10 minutes past the hour now. We got a couple of other things to tell you about here one involving NASA. I'll tell you about in a second. But the other having to do with the former Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky. New allegations and new victims possibly coming forward. That story coming your way.
Also, talking about NASA here. They're calling this Hubble 2.0. A new telescope, still a go for 2018 thanks to, what, a half a billion dollars from Congress. We're looking at the new project, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's 13 past the hour now. Let's go cross country. A Texas judge seen beating his daughter in a YouTube video has now been suspended. The official reason has not been made public. Remember the story, his daughter posted the video a few weeks ago, but it was actually taken back in 2004.
Also in Pennsylvania, authorities investigating new allegations of child sex abuse by Jerry Sandusky. The two cases were reported sometime in the past two months and involved kids still under the age of 18. The former Penn State coach has already been charged with 40 counts of molestation.
Also, the University of California system will pay the medical bills of 11 students pepper strayed by a campus cop. This happened last week in an "Occupy" protest at UC-Davis. The school is launching an independent investigation.
So let's turn back to what we saw last night, debate number 11 for the Republican candidates. We're going to be bringing you our CNN senior political analyst David Gergen about that debate in just a second.
The focus was on foreign policy and national security, but the topic of illegal immigration and amnesty came up. Listen to Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney go back and forth on this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: I do not believe that people of the United States are going to take people who have been here a quarter century who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago, separate them from their families and expel them.
ROMNEY: Amnesty is a magnet. When we have had in the past programs that have said that a people who have come here legally are going to get to stay illegally for the rest of their life, that's going to only encourage more people to come here illegally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Like I mentioned David Gergen would be chiming in. David, when you heard Speaker Gingrich say that, were you surprised?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I was surprised. I have known for a long time that he believes in general, but didn't think he would break orthodoxy. Newt Gingrich has consistently been far out there on the right.
This time, he moved towards the middle in something he does believe, but it could be the same kind of risk that Rick Perry has been running and in these early primary states, Rick Perry has been hurt by being, "Soft" on immigration.
Here, Newt Gingrich termed, quote, "soft on immigration." I'll tell you this. I think Newt Gingrich came out of that debate as a serious contender. If he can survive the vetting and this early scrutiny he's going to get from conservatives and all the rest.
He's going to be a serious player. This is the first time anybody's come out against Romney who actually has a chance to go all the way. The others I think were generally, the flavor of the month, but unlikely to remain flavorful and Gingrich has that possibility.
HOLMES: So David, what he said, something you're supposed to say during the general, not the primary when you're trying to pick up conservative voters. So why take that risk last night?
GERGEN: Well, first of all, it's what he believes and good for him. That he's willing to go out there and say it, the courage. Help said, I'll take the heat. He knew he would take heat on it.
But the other thing is, I sense -- I've had a chance to talk to him with the last ten days, and I think that he -- he's been known in the past as bomb thrower. Erratic, yet very smart, really interesting ideas, some loony ideas, but a bit erratic and I think what he is, I think, who he is, is he thinks he's a more mature, stable person and some of his humanity is coming out.
After all, you know, he is going to voters on his personal life saying I'm something who's mad I've had a lot of failures in my life. I have sought redemption. I found God, and I think that's very consistent with his view on immigration, and that is, people have been here 25 years.
They should be forgiven for something they did 25 years ago if they've led, blameless lives since, and they ought to be allowed to stay as legals, as he called them. I'm not a citizen, but it's legals from this country.
So I think what we're seeing - is perhaps the emergence of a new Newt, more humane, more stable and that's not getting a lot of rave reviews. The conservative community, but I think he's looking at, past the primaries to the general.
And I think that last night he made an appeal for some of the independents who he's asking them. Take a second look. I'm back. I've been out of the public limelight a long time. Take a second look at who I've become.
HOLMES: Can you believe everybody was leaving him for dead at the beginning of the campaign, he's at the top. See if he stays there. David Gergen, always good to talk to you.
GERGEN: He'll be talking about Lazarus before this is over.
HOLMES: Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks so much, David. We're at 17 minutes past the hour now.
Coming up, they were saved just by the skin of the teeth. Congress voting to fund NASA's billion dollar telescope project. We've got details on the mission and the money that came through.
Also, President Obama just about to commute a death sentence -- for two turkeys. Stay here. We'll have it for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: So a big week for NASA. The space agency's prepping for Saturday's launch of its Mars science lab. Celebrating also half a billion dollars in new funding passed by Congress for Hubble 2.0, what folks are calling an ambitious telescope project with big goals and a huge price tag. Our John Zarrella reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the future. Scientist it's believe the real thing will redefine our understanding of our place in the universe. It will be so unique it can look further back in time than the Hubble telescope almost to the dawn of creation.
JOHN MATHER, SENIOR PROJECT SCIENTIST: The James Web telescope is to help us find our entire history, from the first things after the big bang to how the first galaxies are born.
ZARRELLA: And astronomers say if they look in just the right place and get just a bit lucky --
ADAM RIESS, ASTROPHYSICIST: This may give us our first clue about existence of life in another solar system.
MATHER: If we could see a planet like earth, that would be really cool.
ZARRELLA: Web will orbit about 1 million miles from earth, it's instruments designed to work in the infrared range, light we can't see.
Web's capabilities will allow it to literally look where Hubble could not, into gas and dust clouds, at the birth of the first stars and planets. Sounds incredible, right? Web might get us another step closer to solving the puzzle, are we alone?
RIESS: I don't even know how you would put a price on being able to answer questions like, how old is the universe? How did this all start? Where's it going? What is it made of? Are there other people out there like us? These questions are just so intrinsic.
ZARRELLA: But there is a price tag. When web is finally launched in 2018, it will be years behind schedule, and cost about $8.8 billion, $6.5 billion more than the original estimate. At one point, Congress came close to killing it. So what happened? How did it end up astronomy at an astronomical cost?
RICK HOWARD, WEBB PROGRAM DIRECTOR: When doing inventions and things for the first time, you don't know exactly what year you're going to run into, and we found several things we had to work around.
ZARRELLA: And it better work from the get-go. When Hubble ran into problems, space shuttle astronauts came to the rescue, but Hubble was only 300 miles up. At 1 million miles away, even if the shuttle was still flying it couldn't get there to fix web.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, the U.S. space agency itself even tried to come up with alternatives to web, because of all the problems they were having. They changed the management team out. But what it came down to at the end of the day, T.J., was, they were so far downstream already, that it made more sense and was going to cost less at the end of the day to continue with the program rather than just gutting the whole thing and trying to start over with something else. So -- the promise of web is supposed to be absolutely incredible. We'll see if it ends up worth the price.
HOLMES: This better work, John. It sounds like a lot of ifs and certainly a lot of money. John Zarrella. Always good to see you. Thanks so much.
Coming up, our "Political Buzz" panel coming your way after the break. A couple topics to tackle including a controversy over Michele Bachmann and Jimmy Fallon's band. But first take a look, the Dow this day before Thanksgiving 163 points now. We're keeping a close eye on it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Getting close to the bottom of the hour now. On the fifth day of clashes between police and protesters in Cairo, we are seeing now military tanks moving in. Ivan Watson is there. What are you seeing, a stronger presence by the military?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, a brief attempt at some kind of negotiated truce between the protesters and the army, which took over trying to protect the interior ministry here in Cairo, and we saw some rock throwing from the kids at one point against the soldiers.
And now for the past half hour, the soldiers have been firing rounds and canisters of tear gas at the thousands of mostly young Egyptian men. Many of them teenagers that are furiously pounding on the burned out carcasses of cars here and on the walls, in the streets here in Cairo.
The standoff continues here. I'm surrounded by young Egyptians, many of them overwhelmed by the effects of the tear gas. In some cases collapsing unconscious from this and it just does not seem that the violence we've seen in Cairo for the past five days is coming to an end. HOLMES: All right. Our Ivan Watson is there for us. Ivan, we are watching these live pictures. You are there. We'll continue to check in. Thank you so much.
But again, we're at the bottom of the hour now. I'll give you a look at some of the news making headlines.
And of course this travel day will be a headline. So far so good today, things could change. Weather going to be moving in, rain in the northeast. We've got snow in New England, we've got some flooding in Philly even.
Our Jacqui Jeras has been on this for us this morning. We'll continue to get updates from our meteorologists.
Also actor George Clooney could be called as a witness in the trial of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He's accused, Berlusconi that is, of paying for sex with an underage prostitute. A lawyer says Clooney will be called because he attended parties at Berlusconi's home.
Also check this video, look at this. A helicopter crash in New Zealand. The chopper actually clipped a wire. We're told the pilot was doing, would you believe, trying to install a Christmas tree? The chopper comes apart. Tail just snapped off. But would you believe nobody was seriously hurt?
Reminder to our viewers, we are standing by for a scene in Washington, D.C. here in a moment; standing by waiting for the President to come out and -- for the annual tradition of pardoning the Thanksgiving Day turkeys. They've got two turkeys standing by in Washington. Liberty and Peace are the two names, two 45-pounders.
When the President steps out we will bring that to you. Just a fun tradition on this Thanksgiving holiday.
But we'll move on to our "Political Buzz". Your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds. Who's playing today? Georgetown University professor, Chris Metzler, sir good to see you; Patricia Murphy is in D.C. for us today, she is the Citizen Jane Politics lady and she's also a contributor to the "Daily Beast"; and Alexis McGill Johnson here in Atlanta with us, executive director of the American Values Institute.
So of course, you know we're going to start with Newt. He's not necessarily the warm and fuzzy guy, but listen to the new Newt from last night talking about immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't see how the party -- the party that says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century and I'm prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane in enforcing the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, Chris, let me start with you. Who is this guy?
CHRIS METZLER, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: Well, here is the thing. What conservatives like about Newt is that he's not exactly a warm and fuzzy guy, and so this may cause him a bit of problems. I think what he's trying to do is, as Newt does, he is a bit undisciplined here. And he's trying to play to the general election to, perhaps, Independent voters.
The problem is, he's got to win the nomination first, and you've got South Carolina coming up. You have Iowa coming up and in both of those constituencies, there is a huge anti-illegal immigration base, and so as a result of that, we'll see how that plays out.
So I'm not sure it's going to go the same way as Rick Perry. Newt is not Rick.
HOLMES: Patricia, undisciplined as he says, or calculated? Or maybe even honest last night?
PATRICIA MURPHY, CITIZEN JANE POLITICS/DAILY BEAST CONTRIBUTOR: I have to say, this sounded like Newt Gingrich being honest to me. And you have to really think this is an act of political courage on his part, because he knows he's going to get clobbered by his base.
I'm going to be totally fascinated to see what happens here. Newt Gingrich has so much moral authority within the conservative wing of the Republican Party. But we're going to see if he has anybody who is going to take his lead in order to be a follower -- in order to be a leader rather, you have to have followers. We're going to see how much leadership he's going to be able to have within the Republican Party based exactly on this issue alone.
HOLMES: And Alexis, can we go as far as saying this is a softer side of Newt?
ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN VALUES INSTITUTE: Ok, call me cynical, T.J., but I have got to tell you, this is a man with a compassion deficit. This is a man who left his wife when she had cancer and how many subsequent wives after that? I'm sorry.
I think this is a -- this clear play to the Independent vote but also to the Latino vote, and he's going to need them if he's going to continue to rise up in the race.
The only thing I have to say is that John Edwards should be watching closely because maybe he can learn some tricks for 2016.
HOLMES: My goodness. Cynical doesn't even get close to describing that. My goodness. All right. Let me move on. Only 30 seconds on the clock.
Michele Bachmann last night, she hasn't had the greatest debate performances over the past several, had a hard time actually getting in there, being noticed. But last night she didn't really hold back. Went back and forth with Jon Huntsman a bit. So Patricia last night and Huntsman was another one. He tried to get in there, mixed it up with Romney a little bit. So was this a good night for underdogs?
MURPHY: Listen, I think it was a great night for underdogs except for Herman Cain. If you think he was an underdog, he basically got out of the race last night. He just did not have any kind of a moment where he articulated his own foreign policy. But people who had great nights, you have to say Michele Bachmann, very strong. And showed her foreign policy expertise from being on the intelligence committee and Ron Paul. If you like Ron Paul you loved last night's debate. He is going to, I think, get more and more followers from the libertarian wing of the conservative party, of the Republican Party, based on his performance last night. Great night for him.
Mitt Romney did ok. But all he needed to be was be ok last night.
HOLMES: Alexis, I'm scared to even ask you the question. But go right ahead.
JOHNSON: Look I think it was a great night certainly for Huntsman and Bachmann just on the sheer visibility that they've gotten. And I think that the clear front-runner, though, in my opinion, is still Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. Because the longer the Republican Party goes without a clear front-runner, the better it is for us in terms of the kind of infrastructure and money that we can raise and build.
And so I think that the front-runner continues to be Obama and the weak Republican field continues to be the loser.
HOLMES: Chris what did you see with the underdogs last night?
METZLER: Well, with the underdogs I thought that Bachmann had a pretty good night. At one point I was expecting her to say to Perry, "You, sir, are an idiot." Because in terms of showing her expertise in foreign policy, particularly in the area of Pakistan, she was absolutely stellar.
I think what Jon Huntsman showed was that he is probably better off in the Democratic Party. And that, in fact, he is trying to be the next Ron Paul. I mean, I think from a Republican and from a conservative side, that's what he showed. I think Cain was waiting for the 3:00 a.m. wake-up call that never came.
HOLMES: All right, last thing here, 20 seconds each on this "buzzer- beater". I don't know if you all can name this tune, but listen closely. Viewers do it as well. See if you know this song.
Any of you all name that tune? I could not. A lot of people could not. But that was the song that the band played when Jimmy Fallon had Michele Bachmann on. Now, the song is causing issues, because the name of that song is "Lion blank-blank" that rhymes with "lion glass ditch" is the name of the song.
All right, so the band has now apologized. They said oh it was a mix up, weren't aware of the song choice. Jimmy Fallon's apologized. So let me start with you, Alexis. No matter what you think of her politics, this isn't funny, is it? Did this cross the line?
JOHNSON: I think it did crossed the line. I don't think it's never appropriate to use the "b" word in conjunction with a woman. Certainly not a woman of her stature running for office. So I think the "b" word absolutely crossed line. The "l" word on the other hand, not so sure about.
HOLMES: Alexis.
JOHNSON: She's been -- she has completely exaggerated and misstated facts to increase anxiety and fear among the electorates. And I think that's irresponsible. So I'm ok with the "l" word.
HOLMES: So -- so Chris according to that, if the song was titled "Lion" Alexis wouldn't have a problem with it. Did you have a problem with it?
METZLER: Yes. I had a problem with that, I think it was completely inappropriate. I don't think it's ever appropriate to call a woman by that name and I also don't think that it's appropriate to call her a liar. I don't think that she's a liar at all. She has some very strong views. She's putting those views forward, and I think a larger part of the question here is, how conservative women are treated in general, and particularly in the media. I think that's another part of the conversation.
HOLMES: Patricia, you echo those sentiments? Is there any way to excuse or say this is satire or just a joke?
MURPHY: No. There's nothing funny about it. There's nothing satirical about it. It is 100 percent inappropriate and yesterday actually we saw a lot of Democratic congresswomen coming to Michele Bachmann's defense. And when that happens you know if you're Jimmy Kimmel you've done something horribly, horribly wrong. He apologized last night as well. It was -- he needed to do it. Totally unacceptable. Just let women run for president and run on the issues. You just do not need to pull these kind of stuff.
HOLMES: And I know you meant Jimmy Fallon. I want to make sure not Jimmy Kimmel.
MURPHY: What did I say?
HOLMES: You said, Jimmy Kimmel. That's all right, that's all right.
MURPHY: I retract. I retract.
HOLMES: Well, Chris, Patricia --
METZLER: Yes, the only that surprised me was --
HOLMES: Hey, man that was your buzzer beater, time's up. You know how this segment goes. Thank you, Chris, Patricia, Alexis.
METZLER: I will try.
HOLMES: Thank you so much.
I'm not in a giving mood because it's Thanksgiving. Get on out of here. I'll see you guys later.
METZLER: I thought so.
MURPHY: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, a reminder to our viewers, as we get to about 20 minutes to the top of the hour, we're standing by waiting on President Obama to come out here shortly and pardon these turkeys. We'll take you there live when it happens.
Also the travel is a big story today Amtrak is expected to do some better business over this holiday weekend and right now as we speak, our Ted Rowlands is on a train from St. Louis to Chicago. We're checking in to see how that's going in just a few minutes.
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HOLMES: Tradition at the White House, live right now. The President pardoning turkeys.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- will also be taking two unnamed turkeys who weren't so lucky to a local food bank here in D.C. that helps those in need. And I want to thank the folks at Jan Dell's Turkey farm in Orfield, Pennsylvania for donating these dressed birds for the third year in a row.
You know, a great writer once called Thanksgiving the one day that is ours, the one day that is purely American. When we gather around our tables tomorrow to share the fruits of our blessings, let's remember what that means.
Let's be grateful for what we have. Let's be mindful of those who have less. Let's appreciate those who hold a special place in our lives and make sure that they know it. And let's think about those who can't spend the holiday with their loved ones especially the members of our military serving overseas.
I'd like to thank all our men and women in uniform for incredible service and devotion. That's what being an American is all about. Even when times are tough, we look out for each other. We lift each other up and we remind ourselves just how lucky we are here, together, in the greatest country on earth.
So from our family to yours, I want to wish everybody a wonderful and happy and healthy Thanksgiving. And now, since Liberty and Peace have been so patient, it is my privilege to grant them the official pardon.
And I'm going to -- I've got to give them a little symbol here. All right? What do you think? Are you ready? All right. Here we go. All right. You are hereby pardoned. Give them a round of applause. HOLMES: What did he do? In all the things the man had to do as President of the United States, this may be one of the most enjoyable. A lighter moment, this is a long-standing tradition that goes back decades and decades.
Amazingly, these turkey, usually when we watch, they behave surprisingly well. Don't know if they sedate them or what before this goes down. But that is I believe, Liberty we're seeing. There's also a second turkey by the name of Peace.
But the tradition goes, these two will not be heading to anybody's Thanksgiving day table. These two will live out their days somewhere in a petting zoo or something or the other. No, not quite that, but they will live out their days. Long-standing tradition at the White House, President Obama pardoning the turkeys.
A quarter to the hour now
Let's turn to showbiz now. Let's turn back to our A.J. Hammer keeping an eye on what a lot of people were. "Dancing with the Stars", the champion is crowned. This is one I suppose here, A.J., that everybody can get onboard with. No controversy, nobody is going to challenge these results.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": No. No turkeys on the dance floor last night, T.J. You can certainly count me among the millions thrilled to see J.R. Martinez taking home the mirror ball trophy last night after the top two was identified as J.R. and can you believe Rob Kardashian? I mean who would have thought?
Now J.R., of course, was an instant fan favorite from the moment the season started. And he really developed excellent dancing skills along the way. So it didn't come down to simply a popularity contest, as it sometimes can.
The Iraq war veteran doesn't just have a truly inspiring story, having obviously faced incredible adversity because of the injuries he sustained in Iraq. He's also just this incredibly likable guy and he gave a great lesson during the competition to anyone facing difficulty in their life.
Watch what he told "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" after being named dancing champ last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.R. MARTINEZ, "DANCING WITH THE STARS" CHAMPION: You have to be able to step up to the challenge. You have to maintain a positive attitude, be patient and just fight and understand and believe that if you do those things good things will come to you and one day you, too, will be able to hold your own personal trophy.
So I think that's the biggest thing that we've been able to prove this whole ten week journey that we've been on.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HAMMER: T.J., truly poignant words from a true champion as we head into this Thanksgiving holiday.
HOLMES: Very cool to see there. And also I was waiting to hear about this other story that the top guitarists of all-time. "Rolling Stone" put together a list. Who they got?
HAMMER: Yes, well, you know who's at the top. I mean really, is there any other choice? Jimi Hendrix is right there. If you don't understand why, well, just listen.
"Rolling Stone" magazine has ranked the greatest 100 guitarists and list is obviously an impressive collection of musicians. The top five also includes Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Jeff Beck. The panel that voted on these guys also a very talented group. You had Melissa Etheridge, Lenny Kravitz, Carlos Santana, Steven Stills, Joe Walsh and a collection of guitars from bands ranging from Metallica to the E Street Band; they're among those who weighed in here.
No question for the top choice, though, T.J. Jimi Hendrix, unbeatable.
HOLMES: Oh, wow. A.J. good to see you as always. Happy Thanksgiving to you. And to our viewers, if you want more information, everything that's going on in the entertainment world, A.J. is your guy. He's got it for you this evening on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT". 11:00 Eastern time on HLN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, eating even moderate amounts of canned soup significantly increases exposure to BPA, that's according to a new study in the Journal of American Medical Association. This is a chemical, BPA; it's used in the interior lining of the majority of canned soups and vegetables. It's suspected of causing damage to human health. A canned food industry spokesman said the human body metabolizes the BPA and gets rid of it, though, as waste.
Also, take a look. This is the traditional look of Salvation Army bell ringer. Yes, but -- but, but, but -- up next, modern technology steps in as we get a new look at a holiday tradition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Salvation Army bell ringers are going high tech this year. You could now be a virtual bell ringer.
Let me bring you from Dallas, Salvation Army's Major George Hood. Sir, now let me get this straight. The traditional bell ringers out on the streets, in front of the store, they aren't going away, are they?
MAJOR GEORGE HOOD, SALVATION ARMY: Oh, they'll never go away.
HOLMES: All right.
HOOD: We'll never let that happen. 120 years we've had bell ringers on the street.
HOLMES: So they're not going anywhere. So how do you become -- how does this work to being a virtual bell ringer?
HOOD: Well, it's important as technology is introduced that we are at a point where we can communicate with consumers and donors who want to make contributions and more and more we're finding people don't want to be carrying money in their pocket when they're out shopping. So we've created some online opportunities not only to make contributions but also to select angels to provide Christmas presents for needy children.
So we've really gone to the online environment, the digital age, and we're finding many people, particularly the emerging generations, love these options as they want to become loyal donors.
HOLMES: So is it a matter of, say I was a virtual bell ringer, if you will, am I actively seeking people out online?
HOOD: It's a viral relationship where you volunteer to be an online bell ringer, and you send e-mail blasts to all of your friends, people you work with, your neighbors, your relatives, and you ask them to donate to your red kettle. And there's a thermometer there in the software package that allows you to set a goal and then track how much contributions you're receiving, and see if you can reach your goal before Christmas Day.
HOLMES: Oh. Ok. That's pretty cool.
Now, tell me about the traditional bell ringers. Do you find to that that still works? You mentioned that a lot of people just not carrying a lot of cash these days, but does that still work and you still are able to pull in a good number of contributions during the holiday season?
HOOD: Well, I'll tell you, about eight years ago I forecasted we looking at the end of the red kettle. How much did I know? Last year we raised $142 million in those red kettles across America.
HOLMES: Wow. So that still is going to be what gets it done for you. Can you imagine a day, though, when online -- the online, the virtual red kettles will be pulling in more than those out in the streets?
HOOD: Well, we think that that may happen over a period of time. It's not going to happen in the next couple of years, but the idea is, let's be accessible where the donor wants to find us, that's what the technical world and digital world is all about.
HOLMES: Major George Hood, changing with the times with the Salvation Army. Good to see you. You enjoy your Thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing you all out there over the holidays. Thanks so much.
HOOD: Thank you. HOLMES: A quick break. A story, next -- one university suspends its entire band?
Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Some stories making news cross country. Florida A&M University has suspended its marching band after the death of a drum major. Police say hazing may have been involved. They're investigating at least two other incidents as well.
In Illinois a teacher has been put on leave for allegedly boosting dozens of her students' grades. Most of the students are football players and it just happens that her husband is the varsity football coach.
Also, a Wisconsin mayor is threatening to sue teenager who happens to be his Twitter impersonator. The account's owned by, yes, a teenager who's talking about running against the mayor. The kid says the tweets are just satire. Not doing anything. So bring it on, Mr. Mayor.
We're at the top of the hour here now. Looky, looky, it feels like a weekend.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It's quite a challenge. I know, it's like a Saturday. Isn't it?
HOLMES: Like a Saturday.
WHITFIELD: But it's not. It's the day before Thanksgiving. And you've got big plans?
HOLMES: Of course.
WHITFIELD: Getting that turkey ready and basted and all that?
HOLMES: Big football day tomorrow as well.
WHITFIELD: You got it all planned out. Very good.
HOLMES: Good to see you.
WHITFIELD: I'm doing see you again in the morning, right.
HOLMES: See you tomorrow. Same thing.
WHITFIELD: Same bat channel.
HOLMES: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right. Happy pre-Thanksgiving.
HOLMES: See you then.
WHITFIELD: Have a good one T.J. Thanks so much.
